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Our second church building was at 238-240 N. Duke St.,
on the site now occupied by the Haggerty law firm and an apartment building.
Look between this building and the building to the right. Notice the fence
to the right of the church in the sketch and the balconies that appear
on both images on both to the right of the church. When you look
at the pictures of the 2nd church building, taken around 1890, you can
see these same balconies and the fence. We don’t know this
for certain, but the size of the building appears to be about the same
width as the current structures. It’s possible that the foundations
of this structure are the foundations of the old church.
The period of the late 1830’s appears to have been rather tumultuous.
The old church had become inadequate. It was in need of repair and more
space was needed, especially for the Sunday School. A new property on
North Duke St. was purchased. Plans were drawn for a new structure that
included a basement and a gallery. Plans were passed, then later rejected
on several occasions. A lot on E. King St. was purchased at sheriff’s
sale. There were several years of debate and struggle.
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The Second Building
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McConnell, in his 1893 History of First
Methodist Episcopal Church wrote that “proper business methods
were introduced, and the necessary steps taken to secure the incorporation
of the society into a body politic.” This probably refers to the
first charter issued to the church by the PA legislature in 1840.
Debate continued. In July work began on digging a basement on the Duke
St. property despite the lack of funds. Two weeks later, a vote to build
on Duke St. failed to pass and a vote to build on King St. was adopted.
In October a vote to reverse this decision and sell the King St. property
resulted in a tie. McConnell records that after this vote, “The
females voted in favor of selling the lot on East King Street… How
the females were allowed to be present, or why they were permitted to
decide a question of such importance in view of the provisions of the
charter of the church, the records do not say.” The lot on East
King was sold, and work on the new church progressed. The old church was
torn down in the spring of 1841, months before the new church was ready.
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For over a year the congregation met in the home of Mrs. Maria Louisa White
on the corner of Jefferson and Orange Sts. Mrs. White was an innkeeper who abandoned
her business on her conversion in 1839. The former inn was a stone structure
that was one of Lancaster’s earliest structures. It had a large room on
the 2nd floor. Family tradition holds that Washington occupied the room on a
visit to Lancaster. This is very possible as the home of Timothy Mat lack, the
penman who wrote the Declaration of Independence, is on the same corner, as
was the home of the diarist, Christopher Marshall.
The new church was finally dedicated in September, 1842. The Sunday School
was given permission to lay floor boards in the basement and to construct seats…
at their own expense.
The struggle continued into the next decade. Finances were so dire that sheriff
sale was threatened. Help was sought from the conference without success. The
conference gave as reasons:
- The debt was so large it was seen as hopeless
- The church was a “pewed church” (meaning pew rentals were
charged of the members), a practice condemned by most Methodists.
- Little had been done by the church to raise funds in Philadelphia,
leading to the belief that Lancaster didn’t see it as that important
- Lancaster had enough wealth to take care of itself
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Despite the difficulties, First Church was funding its mission in the south
end of the city, even purchasing a building for what would later become St.
Pauls. (More about this later.)
Through many fund raising efforts, the church was able to eliminate its debt
by the end of the Civil War.
The first organ was purchased and placed in the balcony at the east end of
the church in 1868. When this building was later vacated that organ was sold
to a church in Harrisburg.
By 1870 the building was a need of repairs and space led to the purchase of
the property on the northeast corner of Duke and Walnut (site of the stables
from the old fort) but this project was abandoned and the property was sold.
The basement was lowered and the building was renovated. During this project
our congregation worshiped in the county courthouse on King St. at Duke.